Tier list color codes follow a warm-to-cool ramp: S is red #ff5d5d, A orange #ff9a3d, B yellow #ffd23d, C green #5fd66b, D blue #43c5e0, F indigo #6a8bff. Copy these hex values straight into your board, or grab the pastel TierMaker-style ramp further down for the softer classic look.
Want the exact colors for your tiers? Here are the standard tier list color codes — hex values for the classic red-to-blue ramp you can copy straight into your board.
The classic warm-to-cool palette, with hex values:
#ff5d5d#ff9a3d#ffd23d#5fd66b#43c5e0#6a8bffRunning a four-tier ranking system instead? Keep the gradient’s ends — red for the top tier, then orange and yellow, with green marking the lowest ranking — so the hot-to-cold read survives the cut. Four tiers also suit a softer palette: nudge each value toward pastel and the board stops shouting. And if you’re rethinking the letters along with the four-tier colors, see tier list letters explained.
The ramp runs hot to cold so the ranking reads instantly — red signals “top,” blue signals “bottom.” For the full reasoning, see tier list colors and what they mean.
Our tier list maker has these built into one-click themes, plus a per-tier color picker if you want to match a brand or a specific palette. You can also rank the colors themselves with the color tier list template.
Need a color-coded tier list template to hand out? Export the board as a PNG — you can even export an empty board, which gets you a blank tier list with the colors baked in and every row still customizable before that point: labels, order, hex values. The Print button downloads a printable PDF that keeps the same dark look. More ready-made layouts live in best tier list templates.
Keep the warm-to-cool direction, use a consistent saturation across tiers, and ensure dark text stays readable on bright rows. That keeps a custom palette looking intentional.
Contrast does the heavy lifting. Row labels sit as dark text on bright fills, so check the contrast ratio between text color and background color before you commit — WCAG’s contrast minimum is 4.5:1 for normal-size text. Low contrast is the usual failure mode: a vivid accent color looks great as a swatch and kills readability as a full-width row. Lightness matters more than hue here — you can match a team color or a brand and stay legible, as long as the temperature still drifts warm-to-cool down the board.
Search “tiermaker colors” and you’ll meet a different set — the pastel ramp community color charts have passed around for years. Same warm-to-cool idea, lower saturation: a light red often filed under color names like congo pink, a soft yellow near jasmine, a cyan close to electric blue. The commonly-shared hex codes, with their RGB conversions:
#ff7f7e — rgb(255, 127, 126)#ffbf7f — rgb(255, 191, 127)#ffdf80 — rgb(255, 223, 128)#feff7f — rgb(254, 255, 127)#beff7f — rgb(190, 255, 127)#7eff80 — rgb(126, 255, 128)#7fffff — rgb(127, 255, 255)#7fbfff — rgb(127, 191, 255)#807fff — rgb(128, 127, 255)Colors or colours — either way, the hex code is the portable bit — any picker will convert between hex and rgb, so use whichever format your tool asks for. Note what a color chart can’t tell you: why red outranks blue at all. That reasoning lives in tier list colors and what they mean. To make the pastel set your tier list color palette, paste the codes into the per-tier picker and you’re done.
Red (#ff5d5d) for S, orange (#ff9a3d) for A, yellow (#ffd23d) for B, green (#5fd66b) for C, blue (#43c5e0) for D, and indigo (#6a8bff) for F.
S tier is traditionally red — the hottest color — to signal the top rank.
Yes — the maker has one-click themes and a per-tier color picker, so you can use any hex values you like.
The widely shared pastel ramp runs #ff7f7e (light red) at the top through #ffbf7f, #ffdf80, #feff7f, #beff7f, #7eff80, and #7fffff, with #7fbfff and #807fff below — the same warm-to-cool order as the standard set, just at lower saturation. Community palette charts have passed these nine values around for years, which is why so many templates online share that soft pastel look.
S red #ff5d5d is rgb(255, 93, 93), A orange #ff9a3d is rgb(255, 154, 61), B yellow #ffd23d is rgb(255, 210, 61), C green #5fd66b is rgb(95, 214, 107), and D blue #43c5e0 is rgb(67, 197, 224). Same colors, different notation — any color picker converts between the two formats.
Keep both ends of the ramp: red (#ff5d5d) for the top tier, orange and yellow in the middle, green (#5fd66b) for the lowest rank. Cutting D and F doesn’t hurt the read as long as the warm-to-cool direction survives — four rows with a clear gradient beat six rows people have to squint at.
Yes — open the maker, skip adding items, and export the empty board as a PNG: you get a blank tier list with the standard colors already in place. Recolor rows or swap palettes first if you want a different set. For ready-made starting points, see best tier list templates.
A grid of color-coded rows that ranks items from best (S) down to worst. Full explainer: what is a tier list?
Farasat is an engineer who designs websites and builds practical online tools in his spare time. He created Tier List Maker after using other ranking sites that asked for an account, stamped watermarks on downloads, or simply did not work well on a phone. He is not a professional gamer or a self-described tier-list expert — he builds and maintains this site himself, fixes issues, and adds features based on what visitors actually ask for.